Hi,
I have been trying to make a good whole wheat bread, which has big holes inside, for about half a year now, but cant get the result I want.
1½ months ago I was advised (in this forum), to try Jim Laheys no-knead bread. I tried it with great succes. I use a cast iron pot to bake the bread. But I want the great taste of sourdough bread, but the standard no-knead bread is made with instant yeast. I have tried to "translate" the recipe to a sourdough recipe, but cant make it work: I do not get the big holes inside the bread, and the crump is very compact. As I write this, I have a bread in the oven, which has not risen very much the first 15 min. in the oven, and Im really disappointed.
I use the following recipe:
STEP 1:
20 grams of sourdough
50 grams of all purpose flourh
50 grams of water
STEP 2 (app. 6 hours later, or when the sourdough has doubled in size):
Sourdoug from step 1 +
100 grams of all purpose flour
100 grams of water
STEP 3 (app. 6 hours later, or when the sourdough has doubled in size):
Dough:
Sourdoug from step 2 +
50 grams of wholemeal flour
50 grams of whole grain flour
240 grams of all purpose flour
190 grams of water
10 grams of salt
Mix the ingredients and then let it prove for 18 hours. Then scrabe it out of the bowl and push it flat and the fold. Let it rest for app. 2 hours while pre-heating the oven (with the cast iron pot inside) at 520 degress fahrenheit (app. 260 degrees celcius). After the 2 hours rest, take out the cast iron pot, and place the dough in the pot. Bake for 30 minutes with the lit on the pot. Then take of the lit and bake for 15 min. without the lit. 3-4 times during baking I spray the bread with water.
I hope anyone can help me, or have a better recipe for sourdough no.knead bread, whole grain.
Regards
Thomas
Replies
[quote=tdk]
I use the following recipe:
STEP 1:
20 grams of sourdough
50 grams of all purpose flourh
50 grams of water
STEP 2 (app. 6 hours later, or when the sourdough has doubled in size):
Sourdoug from step 1 +
100 grams of all purpose flour
100 grams of water
STEP 3 (app. 6 hours later, or when the sourdough has doubled in size):
Dough:
Sourdoug from step 2 +
50 grams of wholemeal flour
50 grams of whole grain flour
240 grams of all purpose flour
190 grams of water
10 grams of salt
[/quote]
Hi Thomas,
I have put your formula into percentages so you can see better what is happening:
So you can see that your preferment is 94% of the total flour which I think is too high. I usually work with a 40% preferment. I'm no expert but maybe the sourdough runs out of flour to ferment. Also to get big holes you need to up the hydration. You are only using 55-56% water which makes the dough easier to handle but will not help getting those big holes.
Here is a link to Dan Lepard's site where he gives some tips to open up the texture and get lighter bread with big holes.
Here is how I would modify your formula:-
Flour
226g
100g
100g
Bakers
Wholemeal
Wholegrain
You will find this a very wet dough and difficult to handle but if you persevere you get used to dealing with wet dough with practice.
Now there are a lot of other variables that will effect this. One is the flour you are using. If you can get a good strong organic unbleached white flour it helps. I think 18 hrs may be too long. The time depends on the temperature of your kitchen. Long cold ferments help to develop flavour and with wet dough using your fridge can help here. During bulk fermentation gentle stretching and folding every hour also helps. This is my method which I always follow and mostly I get good results.
good luck...
Hi Thomas, I make a whole wheat bread in a cast iron pan like you are trying to do. Like Johnny pointed out I use a lot more water. You can read how I make mine here. http://oakflatsourdough.homeunix.com/index.php/2009/Bread/00-whole-wheat...
Have you seen this recipe:
http://www.breadtopia.com/whole-grain-sourdough/